Philomath High School’s dominance in Oregon West baseball continued Wednesday at Stayton’s Joe Brock Park with a 10-4 victory over the Eagles.
The No. 3-ranked Warriors are now 5-0 and have outscored opponents 76-15 in conference games. Throw in an 8-0 win over No. 4 Junction City, and Philomath has won six straight and is now 12-2-1 on the season.
In Wednesday’s win, the Warriors got out to a 5-0 lead through the first 3-1/2 innings. Philomath’s first run came in the second when sophomore Jacob Hernandez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. In the third, Hernandez hit a two-run single and in the fourth, junior Caleb Babcock hit a one-run single and senior Grant Niemann had a one-run double.
After Stayton pushed across three runs in the bottom of the fourth, the two teams traded runs in the fifth. Philomath scored on a one-run triple by senior Joe Barnes.
Leading 6-4, the Warriors added two runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh to their lead. In the sixth, senior Kayson Olsen had a one-run single and Hernandez hit a one-run triple for an 8-4 lead. In the seventh, junior Rocco De La Rosa drove in Barnes with a single to center field and then came all the way around to score himself on a three-base Stayton error.
Babcock threw 5-2/3 innings and allowed six hits, two earned runs and three walks with 10 strikeouts. Niemann finished up over the final 1-1/3 with no hits, runs or walks allowed and one strikeout.
At the plate, Hernandez went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, Niemann and Olsen both went 2 for 4, De La Rosa was 2 for 5 and Barnes went 1 for 1 with two RBIs.
The series now shifts back to Philomath for the finale at 5 p.m. Thursday.
